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Annual Meeting 2006

The 120th Annual Meeting: What's in It for School Teachers and Students?

Donna Sharer, November 2005

How many times have your students asked, "Why do we have to study this stuff?" or "What am I ever going to do with history?" The upcoming annual meeting of the AHA in Philadelphia provides a unique way for secondary teachers and students in the greater Delaware Valley to get answers to questions like these. You and your students have an opportunity to learn more not only about history but also about job opportunities for historians and history majors and to meet with professionals who use their historical thinking skills in a variety of jobs. The American Historical Association's annual meeting has become more inclusive, adding sessions and events to attract secondary school teachers and their students. In Philadelphia in January 2006, not only will secondary teachers from Pennsylvania receive continuing education credits for attending the meeting (see www.historians.org/annual for details), but teachers may also bring small groups of their students with them at a very modest cost. Here are the special discount rates for registration for teachers:

$20 for K–12 teachers who pre-register ($25 for on-site registration)

$50 for grade 9–12 teachers to register themselves and up to five students for the conference (please note this is for pre-registrants only)

Sessions of particular interest to secondary history teachers include but are not limited to:

Anatomy of a Course: Pedagogy and Higher Education (14)

The Evaluation of the Teaching American History Grant Program (24), sponsored by the AHA Teaching Division

Writing and Teaching about Women in the United States Civil War (45)

Exploring NEH Landmarks of American History: Workshops for School Teachers (49)

Teaching and Learning History with New Media (52), sponsored by the AHA Research Division and the H-Net Committee on Teaching

Can School-University Collaborations Work? (104)

Gender, National Identities, and World History: Problems and Trends in Historiography and the Classroom (109)

Public Historians Reaching Classrooms K–16 through Museums (110), sponsored by the AHA Professional Division and Teaching Division

What Is the Meaning of the Master's Degree? (114), sponsored by the AHA Committee for Graduate Students

Preparing World History Teachers for the Twenty-First Century (125)

Building Academic Literacy Through History (133)

Assessing Student Learning in History: How Are We Doing? (142), sponsored by the AHA Teaching Division

Textbooks, Popular History, and the News: Teaching National Histories and National Identities (160)

Teaching the Nation as Imagined Community: Strategies for Understanding Nationalism in the Classroom (173)

Apprenticing Historical Thinking in the Secondary Classroom (183)

Careers in History: A Workshop for Aspiring Historians

Other sessions for secondary teachers include:

Friday, January 6, 4:45–5:30 p.m. National Endowment for the Humanities Information Session

The staff of the National Endowment for the Humanities will present news about the "Landmarks of American History and Culture" workshop program, the Division of Research and Fellowships including the Kluge Fellowships at the Library of Congress, and updates on recent awards in history.

The College Board, the AHA Teaching Division, and the World History Association will sponsor a luncheon for secondary teachers of Advanced Placement History courses.

Saturday, January 7, 2:30 p.m. World History Association Session: Problems and Prospects for Globalizing the History Curriculum for the Twenty-First Century

Teachers are also encouraged to attend the General Meeting on Friday night. James Sheehan (Stanford Univ.), AHA's president and noted historian of Germany, will deliver his presidential address, which is entitled "The Problem of Sovereignty in European History."